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The Man Trap (episode)
A mysterious creature stalks the Enterprise, murdering crew members. Summary SUMMARY Background Information * "The Man Trap" was the first Star Trek episode to air, on September 8, 1966. It was novelized by James Blish under the original scripted name, "The Unreal McCoy," in the first Star Trek adaptation collection, released in the US by Bantam Books in 1967. * The reference to Wrigley's Pleasure Planet is a play-on-words with the slogan for Wrigley's chewing gum ("double your pleasure"). * The Swahili spoken to Uhura by the M-113 creature when it is disguised as her crewman is, "Nina ku dhania mwanamke mzuri", meaning "I think of you, beautiful lady." This eerie scene between Uhura and her "dream man" bears out Crater's assertion that the creature needs love almost as much as it needs salt. * Special kudos must go to Alexander Courage for the bizarre and spooky music he composed for this segment. This score would be extensively re-utilized in other first season episodes for many memorable moments. * A really fun aspect of the first season episodes is that the crew are not just walking in the corridors- they are often engaged in maintanence work, checking out equipment in the corridors and so on. This is evident in The Man Trap and Charlie X, especially. Minor crew members also carried on casual conversations and a feeling of the ship as a real community was created, as when Uhura asks Bobby to fix her rattling door or when two crewmen admire Janice Rand. These nice details about everyday life on a starship largely faded away as the series progressed. * Some actors in this episode were selected based on their resemblence to each other. The transformation between Jeanne Bal and Bruce Watson is eerily effective because of this. * When Rand slaps the false Crewman Green's hand, Bruce Watson does a hilarious double-take, looking directly at the audience in frustration, a la Oliver Hardy. Watson also played the creature as unfamiliar with the doors of the ship, tentatively reaching his arms out to activate them and practically stumbling out of the botany lab when frightened by Sulu's pet plant, Gertrude. * The botany lab is a redress of the sickbay set, with an extra doorway added to the right of the opaque cabinet. * In a cute inside joke, another first season feature, Sulu uses Gene Roddenberry's nickname when he says to Rand, "May the Great Bird of the Galaxy bless your planet!" * Wah Chang created the salt vampire, managing to give its alien face a sense of sadness. It would reappear briefly in a very funny bit in The Squire of Gothos. Apparently, only the hands from this costume still exist. * When Nancy Crater first walks into the dig headquarters, Nichelle Nichols' singing from Charlie X is briefly dubbed in. * William Shatner has severe problems to this day with persistent ringing in his ears. He says it was caused by explosions going off near him during his television work. In both this episode and Arena, explosions occur very close to Shatner. * A ricochet sound effect is used when Crater is stunned by the phaser shot. Then, Alfred Ryder's voice is slowed down to simulate the stun effect. * In early episodes like this one, there are up and down indicators that light up outside the turbo lifts. Although they will be seen in subsequent episodes, only in the earliest ones do they actually light up to indicate direction of travel. Elevator indicator lights will later show up in Engineering above one of the consoles. * This is the only segment of 'Star Trek' in which we see McCoy's quarters. A clever pan and jump cut along a blank wall allowed two McCoys to appear in the same room. The three cylindrical containers on the shelf in McCoy's room were previously seen on Ben Childress's table in Mudd's Women. They will later appear in the large lighted panel in McCoy's lab. McCoy has a safe in his room, but there are no combination buttons below it. * Crewmen in the hallway can be seen wearing shirts from the second pilot, complete with the smaller insignia. A crewwoman wearing pants can be seen in the corridors; Charlie X will be the last time we see this. * Although this episode was filmed before The Naked Time, stock footage from that episode is used for the bridge scene at the very beginning. Kirk's run down the corridor to the sickbay is also pulled from The Naked Time as is a reaction shot of Shatner when Spock is telling him about the borgia plant on the sickbay viewscreen. * As in Charlie X, Uhura has a great deal of fun at the expense of Spock. Their conversation establishes that Vulcan has no moon. * In the script, Uhura's mother, M'Umbha, was mentioned. * McCoy's nickname in his younger days was "Plum." * As the first episode actually telecast, the opening credits are slightly different from the other first season shows. Gene Roddenberry has "created by" credits and there is no "starring" before William Shatner's name. * James Doohan is not in this episode, but is heard briefly on the intercom in dialogue lifted from another episode. Links and References Main Cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * George Takei as Sulu * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * Grace Lee Whitney as Rand Guest Stars * Jeanne Bal as Nancy Crater * Alfred Ryder as Robert Crater * Michael Zaslow as Darnell * Bruce Watson as Green (Crewman) * John Arndt as Sturgeon * Larry Anthony as Berkeley * Vince Howard as a Uhura's Crewman * Francine Pyne as Blonde Nancy * Sharon Gimpel as M-113 creature (salt vampire) * Eddie Paskey as Leslie and Connors (uncredited) * William Blackburn as Hadley (uncredited) * Frank da Vinci as Brent and Vinci (uncredited) * Garrison True as Security Guard #1 * Bob Baker as Beauregard Puppeteer (uncredited) * Budd Albright as Barnhart (uncredited) * Unknown actor as Bobby (uncredited) References Borgia plant; Buffalo; Corinth IV; Dominguez, José; general quarters; Gertrude; Great Bird of the Galaxy; M-113; Passenger pigeon; "Plum"; Saurian brandy; Sodium Chloride; Swahili; Tonsils; Vulcan; Weeper; Wrigley's Pleasure Planet. Man Trap, The de:Das Letzte seiner Art nl:The Man Trap